Displays aimed at visitors of all ages emphasize the diversity of animal and plant life in local marine ecosystems.

Visitors learn where to interact with marine organisms in their natural environments and how local scientists study the life histories, evolution and ecology of underwater plants and animals.

[3] The University of Oregon first established OIMB as a summer research and education program in 1924, operating out of tents along the beach of Sunset Bay.

OIMB settled into its current location in 1931, when 100 acres of the Coos Head Military Reserve, including several buildings from the Army Corps of Engineers, was deeded to the University of Oregon.

Notably, the Loyd and Dorothy Rippey Library was built in 1999, and construction of the Charleston Marine Life Center began in 2012.